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Attorney General Rosenblum: Do Not Waive Catholic Hospitals' Merger Review

Catholic Ethical & Religious Directives Restrict Reproductive, End-of-Life Care

January 14, 2016 - The ACLU of Oregon and 12 other public interest organizations sent Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum a letter urging her to reject a request for a waiver from the standard process for reviewing merger transactions by the nation’s 6th largest nonprofit hospital system, Providence Health & Services, and St. Joseph Health.

“This proposed transaction involves eight hospitals across Oregon, and a total of almost 50 hospitals across six states [Alaska, California, Montana, Oregon, Texas, Washington],” the groups said in the letter sent to AG’s office on Jan. 8. “Even absent the transfer of assets, significant changes in health care delivery are likely to occur…it behooves the Attorney General to undertake the full review process to ensure that this transaction preserves existing health care services and benefits the public interest.”

St. Joseph and Providence are both Catholic health systems. Catholic hospitals must typically follow the Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs) promulgated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The ERDs many forbid reproductive health services, including all birth control methods, sterilization, miscarriage management, abortion, the least invasive treatments for ectopic pregnancies, and some infertility treatments. The ERDs provide no exceptions for risks to a patient’s health or even life.

January 14, 2016

I Was Shot Six Times With Pepper Bullets and Beaten With Batons – and I'm Here to Say Thank You

Plaintiff Mookie Moss, who was shot six times with “pepper bullets” and unjustly beaten with police batons while protesting then-President Bush, penned this open letter to ACLU supporters and members:

Dear ACLU supporter,

Eleven years ago, hundreds of people had gathered in Jacksonville, Oregon to greet then-President George W. Bush. Most were there to protest the administration’s policies on the war in Iraq, the emerging torture culture, as well as, dubious and destructive environmental policies that greatly affected our local and national forest health.

It was a peaceful event, and many people had brought their children to participate in the democratic process. To have a sitting President stay in our small Southern Oregon town was an incredible opportunity to make our voices heard.

Despite our assurances of a peaceful demonstration to local and state law enforcement, things quickly turned violent when riot police marched on the 200 or so people on the anti-Bush side. The police, while obscuring their identities wearing balaclavas, marched with weaponry at the ready towards our assembly of children, grandparents, farmers, teachers, and community members. The riot clad officers ordered the large group to move, and proceeded to forcibly move us without waiting to see if the order had been understood and without allowing time for us to follow it. With the helicopters circling overhead and the general state of confusion and fear initiated by the police, chaos set in.

December 16, 2015

Indigenous Peoples’ Day Must Be More Than Symbolic

By Legal Director Mat dos Santos

Today I’m especially proud to live in Portland, which is celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day for the first time. On Wednesday, October 8, 2015, through a unanimous vote by the city council, Portland abandoned Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Portland joins a handful of U.S. cities to make this change. While symbolic, this is an important shift in policy away from erasing Native tradition to celebrating it.

Native Americans throughout the U.S. routinely find themselves faced with an impossible choice: celebrate Native traditions in Native spaces or let Native traditions die while participating in majority culture. This forced choice is a legacy of genocide and ongoing social depredation perpetuated against indigenous people.

Today, this cultural annihilation is continued through innocuous institutional rules and regulations that may seem harmless, but which have a disparate impact on Native people and traditions. These rules and regulations discriminate against Native people because the needs of Natives were not considered in the policy making process. An example of such a rule can be found in Oregon’s institutions of higher education; not a single one allows Native students to practice traditional smudging rituals in their living spaces.

October 12, 2015

Why I Signed the Letter

As presidential candidates spread fear-mongering rhetoric about immigrant communities, a local city councilor in Springfield, Oregon, recently opposed the appointment of a minister to a police advisory committee stating that the committee didn’t need “another minority element.” The minister is Pacific Islander.

We need a very different climate and discourse for addressing issues of race and cultural differences in our country and state. Oregon could be facing several ballot measures in 2016 steeped in anti-immigrant sentiment while offering policies that would harm all Oregonians.

September 9, 2015